


Brother Dearest

by AugustStories



Series: The Alphabet [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Family, Protective Siblings, Russia, Secret Identity, Siblings, Spies & Secret Agents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:33:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22036372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AugustStories/pseuds/AugustStories
Summary: After being disavowed by the very people she had handed her life to, Nastya returns to the only place she could still trust.
Relationships: Original Female Character & Original Male Character
Series: The Alphabet [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1586143
Kudos: 1





	Brother Dearest

**Author's Note:**

> Just trying some more original stuff posting

The advantages of having once had a family name that bestowed fear, respect and most of all the sense of old Russian values in people were that they had always lived like the power their family name pretended to have. Their ancestors had once been Dukes and Duchesses, tightly woven into the Romanov net, placed within ranks of power.

In the Revolution, they had been lucky, simply lucky to have chosen the opportunistic way at just the right moment to escape persecution by the Bolsheviks. They may have betrayed the royal standing and the family ties, but at least they had lived, Nastya had only ever focused on that part of the history. The Royal Family had been loyal to their family, to their title, to their lost throne until the bitter end, and though she condemned what had been done to the Romanovs, Nastya knew that wrong placed loyalty only ever brought you so far.

The Laserovs had been loyal to Russia, not its political system, they had always been opportunistic, and they had been survivors. Whether it be high ranking Generals in Imperial Russia under their cousin, the Tsar, or quiet but scheming under Bolshevik rule in the first great war or as influential political figures in Soviet Russia and the Russian Federation now.

You survived, and you were loyal to those who survived with you.

The rest was a means to get there.

Other people were a means to get there.

With their rich history came a house that had always mirrored just that, a bright white and gold estate on the outskirts of St. Petersburg. A three-story house, set into the middle of a large ground that was surrounded by forest and a white high fence that went around the entire estate. Isolated, private, protected.

Add townhouses in the city and apartments in Moscow, Sochi, Vladivostok and several other European and American cities. None of them though held the same worth or sentimental value as the house she was walking towards now in the early evening. It had been in their family for generations and Anton and Nastya had fought for nothing as much as for this house when Nikolaij had disappeared, nothing mattered as long as they would be able to keep the house and the history.

They had restored their family name, had made sure that people knew that even with Nikolaij Laserov gone, his children were still pretty much there to remind you just what their last name meant. Until of course, her father's trouble was slapped into her face again.

The house was dark, except for the light in the sitting room on the ground floor, it confirmed her suspicions that Kat and the children were once again in Odessa with her parents to be out of the spotlight. Anton had to be reading, or he had forgotten to stop working once more, and sometimes both even smoothed into one with her darling brother.

Nastya fumbled the key out of her jacket pocket and walked around the house to get to the backdoor, no need to alarm her brother by using the front door for the first time in her life. She did not bother turning on a light as she closed the door behind her and set her backpack onto the sideboard next to the back staircase. She kicked off her shoes by the door to the coatroom, took off her jacket and hung it onto the doorknob, and then went on on bare feet towards the front of the house.

Anton was sitting in the armchair by the window alcove, the one he had already loved when his legs had not even been long enough to let his feet peek over the edge of the seat. He was holding an English novel; a tea cup was still showing steam on the small table next to him. Nastya stopped in the door and leaned against the old wood, her lips curling into a first real smile on this day as she quietly watched her older brother for a moment.

A moment that was broken by Anton himself as he spoke up, “You’re early.” He told her in Russian, “I didn’t expect you to turn up until midnight.”

“I had enough money with me. I didn’t need to go and get some.” Nastya answered him and met the dark blue eyes of her brother with tired green ones. They looked like their tempers, their father had always told them. Tall lean Anton with the dark hair and the soothing blue eyes. Skinny Anastasija with the flaming red hair and the venomous green eyes. Like fire and ice, the only ones really able to stop each other, invincible together.

“Hungry? I waited with dinner for you.” Anton continued and set his book to the side; bookmark carefully placed between the pages before he got up and smoothed down the blue sweatshirt.

“I am starving.” Nastya approved of his idea and closed her eyes when Anton stepped up to her and wrapped her into a hug, drawing her against his chest.

“We’ll talk after dinner.” Anton told her and Nastya nodded against his chest before pulling back again. Anton dropped a kiss onto her head, then slung an arm around her shoulders and pulled her into the kitchen.

Home.

Safe.

For now.


End file.
